Recruiting Roundup: Adrenaline Showcase Day 1

Inside Lacrosse made the trip up the NorCal coast today from San Ramon to Sonoma for this year's 2011 Adrenaline Showcase/Shootout. Today, on sunny but strangely cold day (cold cut right through the chest), we took in the first sessions of the Showcase, which works in an all-star format featuring over 160 of some of the best talent in the West (California, Colorado, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Texas, Minnesota and British Columbia are all represented here.) Excellent day of play here, with some strong work from all the players.

Man of the Session

Kiernan Eissler (Coronado HS/2013) earned this honor with a great hat trick in the evening session of the Showcase. Eissler showed fantastic speed and awareness in front of the cage, and leaned on his natural explosiveness to score goals.

ATTACK

There were a phalanx of excellent attackmen at the Showcase, and you they definitely did an excellent job of splitting the points among themselves. Chris Severson (Bingham, Utah/2012) put up arguably the best shot I saw all day, throwing a perfect lefty fake pass that confused the defense, leaving him with an open shot to the goal, which he put in. He had two on the day in the session I watched him in. Fellow teammates Charles Evan Meister (Havard-Westlake, Calif.), Clarke Kyran (Burnaby Mt., British Columbia) and Zach Payne (Air Academy, Colo.) combined for four goals and assist in the same contest. Andrew Tien (The Bishop's School, Calif.) and Jack Perkins (Coronado, Calif./2013) also stood out, scoring two goals a piece, including a beauty of a postup from Perkins, in another contest.

MIDFIELD

Some solid midfield play today, though would say attack stood out a little bit more between the two units. Mentioned Eissler's performance above, but also like what I saw from Michael Hernandez (Piedmonte, Calif.) and Bennett Shafer (Torrey Pines, Calif.). Each scored a goal apiece in the game I caught them in. Hunter Corpus (Coronado, Calif) demonstrated some excellent athleticism from atop the box, putting up two goals in his game. Jake Woodring (Eden Praire, Minn/2013) also stood out. Jake Marcy (Lincoln, Ore.) posted a goal and an assist in the contest I caught him in. Have to also mention Jake Seau, son of football great Junior Seau. Jake's bursts of speed driving the edges were impressive, and could put mustard on his shots.

DEFENSE

Christ Carter (Torry Pines, Calif.) was the most impressive defender on the day, using his size (must be 6-3, 6-4 plus) to gain advantage on his assignments and force the caused turnover. Sometimes the difference between DI and other possibilities is sheer physicality, and Carter appears to have that. Solid wing play from a strong group of LSMs as well here, including P. Colby Van Rysselberghe (Jesuit, Calif.), Christian Guinchard (Bishop's School, Calif.) and Nick Robles (Coronado, Calif.).

GOALIE

Three goalies I saw stood out with mulit-save performances; Jared Baumann (Lakeridge HS, Ore.), John McCaull (Coronado, Calif.) and Jackson Grimes (Westlake, Texas). All three held their positioning in cage and uses quick hands to attack the ball.

Notes

Many of the same recruiters I saw at Cali Gold were in attendance today, though flanked with more DII, DIII and MCLA coaches.

Talked to Bill Wilson, assistant at Air Force, to catch up on his program's roster building. They're very excited about the including freshmen, and this year they were able to utilize Air Force's prep academy alittle more. That will continue to grow as an asset for that program in the future.

We'll be here for the rest of the Adrenaline Showcase, which finishes Friday, and then sights and sounds from the Adrenaline Shootout over the weekend.